Drawers for furniture

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to drawers for furniture and is more particularly concerned with a three-sided drawer frame of which the back and side members are made of plastics material, the front member of the drawer being selectively made of wood, chipboard or the like material. The three-sided drawer frame construction enables the drawer front to be attached later and to match, in material, color and style, the remainder of the piece of furniture.

United States Patent [72] Inventor Leslie W. L. Alston 9,0ld Market Place, Sudbury, Suffolk, England [21] Appl. No. 815,399

[22] Filed Apr. 11, 1969 [45] Patented Oct. 5, 1971 [54] DRAWERS FOR FURNITURE 1 Claim, 7 Drawing Figs.

[52] 11.8. Cl 312/263, 312/214, 312/330 [51] Int. Cl ..A47b 47/00, A47b 88/00 [50] Field ofSearch 312/330, 263, 264, 257, 214; 220/4 [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,701,174 2/1955 Franks 220/4 3,194,619 7/1965 Dannenberg 312/263 3,224,823 12/1965 Schulze 312/257 3,273,952 9/1966 l-limelreich.... 220/4 3,316,460 4/1967 Scoville 220/4 3,393,031 7/1968 Morrill 312/330 Primary Examiner-Reinaldo P. Machado Attorney-Wolf, Greenfield & Sacks ABSTRACT: This invention relates to drawers for furniture and is more particularly concerned with a three-sided drawer frame of which the back and side members are made of plastics material, the front member of the drawer being selectively made of wood, chipboard or the like material. The three-sided drawer frame construction enables the drawer front to be attached later and to match, in material, color and style, the remainder of the piece of furniture.

PATENTEUUBT 519m 3.610.719

SHEET 2 OF 4 m wuf/vra WMM DRAWERS FOR FURNITURE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION In the manufacture of furniture by modern mass production methods, standardization of parts is an important factor in economical production. Furthermore, in the production of drawers of wood it is customary to provide dovetail joints between the sides of the drawer which adds to the cost of manufacture and labor.

It is an object of the present invention to standardized the production of drawers for furniture and to simplify the assembly of such drawers by the utilization of plastics material for at least the drawer back and sides.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention accordingly consists in a method of making a three-sided drawer frame, wherein the drawer back is formed from an extruded box section of plastics material and the drawer sides are individually formed from shaped injection moldings of plastic material.

While generally the drawer front will be separately produced, preferably from wood, chipboard or the like material, said front if desired may also be made of plastics material, for example, in the fonn of a shaped injection moldmg.

The present invention also consists in a three-sided drawer frame, comprising a back member formed from an extruded box section of plastics material and two side members formed from shaped injection moldings of plastics material.

Conveniently, the plastics material used is hard P.V.C., styrene or any other suitable plastics material.

Preferably, in order to facilitate joining of the drawer side members to the back members, each said side member is formed, at its end adjoining the drawer back, with three or more ribbed connecting elements adapted to be received in the respectivecavities of said box sections of the drawer back. The opposite end of each drawer side member preferably has at least two barbed, cylindrical fixing pegs which are adapted to engage respective bores provided in the inner wall of the drawer front for securing the latter to the two side members of the drawer.

To complete the drawer, a drawer bottom of plywood or hardboard is advantageously provided which by means of its peripheral edges engages in recesses or grooves formed in the internal walls of the individual members forming said drawer frame.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In order that the invention may be more readily understood, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which illustrate diagrammatically and by way of example, one embodiment thereof, and in which:

FIG. 1 is an elevation of a drawer back,

FIG. 2 is an end view of FIG. 1,

FIG. 3 is an elevation of a drawer side,

FIG. 4 is a plan view of FIG 3,

FIG. 5 is an end view in the direction of arrow A in FIG. 3,

FIG. 6 is a section on the line VI-IV of FIG. 3, and

FIG. 7 is an exploded view of the drawer components without drawer front.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to the drawings, the drawer back 1 is formed from an extruded box section of plastics material having a width corresponding to the desired depth of the finished drawer and cut to a length corresponding to the desired width of the finished drawer. The plastics material of the drawer back 1 is hard P.V.C. or any other suitable plastics material. The extruded box section comprises three compartments or cavities 2, 3 and 4 arranged adjacent one another transversely of the section and extending in parallel relationship in the longitudinal direction of said section.

In the front wall 5 of the extruded section 1 and adjacent one longitudinal edge thereof is formed a dovetail recess 6 which extends the entire length of the extruded section I and which is adapted to receive an edge of the drawer bottom 7 (FIG. 7), for example, made of plywood or hardboard. One outer edge of the recess 6 is provided with a chamfer or a lead in bevel 8 for facilitating insertion of the edge of the drawer bottom 7 into the recess 6, Adjacent each end of the extruded section 1, circular apertures 9 and 10 are respectively formed in the rear wall 11 of the cavities 2 and 4 for the reception of wedge-shaped lugs 12 carried by connecting elements of a drawer side member 13, more particularly referred to hereinbelow.

The drawer back 1 is connected at each end to the respective drawer side member 13 to form a three-sided drawer frame. The side members 13 are injection molded from plastics material, for example, hard P.V.C. or high-impact styrene. Each drawer side member 13 had a width corresponding to the width of the apertaining extruded box section forming the drawer back 1, and a length corresponding to the desired length of the finished drawer. A rectangular longitudinal recess or the like groove 14 is formed inthe external wall 15 of each drawer side member 13 intennediate the longitudinal edges thereof for engaging the usual drawer runners (not shown).

For saving material and reducing the weight of the otherwise solid drawer sides, the external wall 15 of each drawer side member 13 has two elongated substantially bowl-shaped recesser or depressions 16 formed therein one on either side of the runner recess 14, the two recesses 16 extending substantially the whole length of the drawer side member.

Adjacent the end of each drawer side 13 at which the latter is to be connected to the drawer back 1, there are provided three connecting elements 17, 18 and 19 which are disposed in spaced relationship transversely of the drawer side member 13 and which extend normal to the plane of the inner wall 20 of the drawer side member 13. A locating lug 31 is provided between the connecting elements 17 and 18, which is adapted to engage the cavity 3 of the drawer back I, and which also serves to screen off any gap which may be present at this point. Each of the outer connecting elements 17 and 19 comprises a substantially rectangular plate member 21 which is provided at each of its two free parallel edges with a flange 22 extending inwardly of and at right angles to the plate member 21 and having a width corresponding substantially to the depth of the cavities in the drawer back 1. The intennediate connecting element 18 comprises a comparatively narrow plate member 23 aligned with the plate members 21 and having a central horizontal flat member 24 extending inwardly of and at right angles to the member 24. The dimensions and orientation of the member 24 relative to the wall 20 of the sid member 13 is similar to those of members 22.

The upper and lower edges of the outer connecting elements 17 and 19 are provided with a slight bevel or chamfer 25 adjacent the free edge thereof for facilitating introduction of the connecting elements 17 and 19 into the respective cavities 2 and 4 of the box section of the drawer back 1. In the outer surface of the plate members 21. and 23 there is provided the wedge-shaped lug 12, these lugs being so positioned on the plate members 21 and 23 that when the connecting elements are slid into the respective cavities of the box section the lugs 12 engage the respective circular apertures 9 and 10 in the rear wall 11 of the box section 1 and form anchoring means for the connecting elements.

In the inner wall 20 of each drawer side 13 a continuous recess or groove 26 is provided adjacent one longitudinal edge of a drawer bottom 7 made, for example, of plywood or hardboard. The recess 26 extends the entire length of the drawer side and is provided on one outer edge with a chamfer or leadin bevel 27 for facilitating insertion of said side edge of the drawer bottom 7 into the recess 26. A further longitudinal recess 28 extending parallel to the recess 26 for the drawer For securing the drawer front (not shown) to the two side members 13, which drawer front may advantageously be made of a suitable material different from that of which the threesided drawer frame is made, the front end face 29 of each drawer side 13 is formed or provided with two connecting members in the form of two spaced-apart barbed, cylindrical fixing pegs 30 which are adapted to engage two respective bores provided in the inner wall of the drawer front.

It will be appreciated that by selecting suitable dimensions for the drawer sides formed by injection molding, such as are commonly used in various furniture pieces, a wide range of drawer sizes may be made with the same extruded box section having the same width as the drawer sides by merely cutting the box section to different length. This range can, of course, be appreciably increased if the width of the extruded box section is also suitably varied in accordance with the width of the drawer sides.

Furthermore, the number of the cavities in the box section can be varied as well as their dimensions. These cavities may,

for example, be of equal size and each so constructed as to receive one connecting element.

1 claim:

1. A three-sided drawer frame, comprising a back member of rectangular plate construction and formed from an extruded box section of plastics material, said box section providing at least two parallel extending cavities, and two side members of rectangular plate construction and formed from injection moldings of plastics material, each said side member being formed, at its end adjoining the drawer back member, with at least two flanged connecting elements extending normal to the plane of said side member and adapted to be received in the respective cavities of said box sections for joining together the drawer back and side members, the opposite end of each side member being formed with at least two barbed, cylindrical fixing pegs which are adapted to engage respective bores provided in the inner wall of a drawer front for securing the latter to said two side members. 

1. A three-sided drawer frame, comprising a back member of rectangular plate construction and formed from an extruded box section of plastics material, said box section providing at least two parallel extending cavities, and two side members of rectangular plate construction and formed from injection moldings of plastics material, each said side member being formed, at its end adjoining the drawer back member, with at least two flanged connecting elements extending normal to the plane of said side member and adapted to be received in the respective cavities of said box sections for joining together the drawer back and side members, the opposite end of each side member being formed with at least two barbed, cylindrical fixing pegs which are adapted to engage respective bores provided in the inner wall of a drawer front for securing the latter to said two side members. 